INTRODUCTION TO THE ART OF DRUM CIRCLE FACILITATION, PART 4 FACILITATING THE DRUM ENSEMBLE TOWARDS ORCHESTRATIONAL CONSCIOUSNESS BY ARTHUR HULL

his is the fourth in a series of five articles and video in- cilitator is to help the players use their notes to make space for Tstallments that describe and demonstrate the four stages other people’s creativity. of the Village Music Circles Drum Circle Facilitation Protocol. 3. Melody Line. Once you have your players listening and By using this VMC protocol, you will be able to take a circle talking to each other in their interactive rhythmical dialogue, of drummers from a group playing consciousness to an en- you have set the foundation for a particular melody line, or semble playing consciousness, and finally into orchestration- Rhythm Song, to appear in the totality of the group’s interactive al consciousness, where drum rhythm grooves are turned into playing. These melody lines in your drum circle group’s playing music. will constantly evolve and change throughout the event. Sculpt- If you have been following this series of articles, you have ing and showcasing the particular players who are the funda- gone through the basic Village Music Circle protocol that will mental contributors of any “dialogue melody line” is the key to help you get a drum circle started through facilitating interac- facilitating your playing group into higher and more sophisticat- tive experiential rhythmical playing actives. I have introduced ed forms of musicality. to you the process of facilitating a “Drum Call” experience that will educate your drum circle playing group about itself and the collaborative musical potential that exists in any group rhythm event. By completing the Drum Call process, you have also com- pleted the job descriptions of (1) the Dictator, dictating to the players in the circle the basic body-language signals that you will be using throughout your whole drum circle event, and (2) the Director, directing the group towards ensemble conscious- ness and musicality through experiential activities. The key to knowing when to stop being the Director and start being the Facilitator (the third job description in the Village Music Circle facilitation protocol) is when the players in your drum circle are turning their drum rhythm grooves into inter- active music expressions. Now that your rhythm ensemble is offering you some musical elements to facilitate, the real drum circle facilitation experience begins. The basic elements that make a musical rhythm ensemble are “platformed” in the following order: 1. Rhythm Connection. This must be in place before any other musical element can appear in any rhythm groove. If you don’t have rhythm connection, you won’t have a group rhythm groove to work with. 2. Interactive Dialogue. A connected group rhythm groove becomes the foundational platform for interactive dialogue to occur between your drum circle players and their different instruments. There are many ways to facilitate interactive dia- logue amongst your players, but the fundamental role of the fa-

OCTOBER 2017 22 RHYTHM! SCENE RHYTHM! SCENE 23 OCTOBER 2017 Tap to play Video orative rhythm and their musical spirit. We call this action of leaving the center of the circle “GOOW”: Get Out Of the Way. And sometimes we say “STOW”: Stay Out Of the Way. Let the rhythm go until the drummers need your help. Until the next installment in this series, Share Your Spirit!

The full one-hour video of The Art of Drum Circle Facil- itation can be viewed at https://villagemusiccircles.com/ the-art-of-drum-circle-facilitation/.

Arthur Hull travels the world inspiring community-building through the metaphor of music. His pioneering rhythm fa- cilitation work has touched the lives of thousands of people world-wide, instigating the new and growing profession of the community drum circle facilitator. In 1980, Arthur founded 4. Harmonics. Once a melody line appears in your interactive Village Music Circles to bring rhythm-based experiences to drum circle music, then many different types of harmonics will communities and organizations worldwide. Arthur has inspired manifest itself in between the activities of different timbral a grass-roots movement of people from diverse cultures and contributions offered by your players. We call this “Angels In the backgrounds who have learned to use the impact of rhythm to Music.” You will swear that you can hear chorus voices or a flute improve human interaction—from corporate executives to kids or saxophone in the sound mix when there isn’t anyone singing at risk. R!S or playing a wind instrument in the circle. Angels In the Music is a manifestation of the harmonies created in your drum circle. These are the musical elements in your drum circle ensem- ble that you can facilitate, select, and showcase, which will allow you to raise the group’s level of musicality. This style of facilitation will help you to guide the players in your group towards “orchestrational consciousness.” My experience is that the best facilitators who follow the Vil- lage Music Circle facilitator drum circle protocol, do two things: • Follow the people who are following you! • Work with what they give you! This means that while facilitating a drum circle group, you’re listening deeply to what contributions the players are offering to the music, and then you facilitate and showcase those con- tributions and connections in such a way that you are guiding the players in the direction they want to go—towards spirited music making while creating the Angels In the Music. Sculpting and showcasing rhythm “songs” of mixed timbers and drum pitches and then stop-cutting the rest of the play- ers will educate those non-playing people in the circle about “orchestrational consciousness” while they are listening to that particular sculpted “song.” Sculpting these elements in the circle as a platform for more sophisticated musical interaction is your intention as a facilitator. In the accompanying 12-minute segment of the one-hour VMC Facilitation video, you will find examples of song sculpt- ing as a music platform for inviting deeper listening and more sophisticated music interaction. Throughout this video you will see me, and many other Village Music Circle facilitator grad- uates, demonstrate facilitation techniques based on simple body language signals. But what you won’t see is that, most of the time, good drum circle facilitators stay out of the center of the circle as much as possible. This allows the players to connect with each other to explore and express their collab-

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